The Internship
by RoseRed86
Summary: Hermione Granger secures a coveted summer internship at St. Mungo's, but her happiness is quickly overshadowed by the revelation that she will be sharing her internship with someone else... one Draco Malfoy!  It's going to be a long summer...
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my newest story! I will try to update as often as possible, please subscribe if you would like to receive a notice when new chapters are posted. I am thankful for any and all reviews. _-RoseRed_

*NOTE: I do not own anything, I owe everything to the fabulous J.K. Rowling.

A little background on the story:

This story is a reimagining of the summer between 5th year and 6th year. For the most part, I intend for it to remain within canon of the original series, though I may alter small details here and there.

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><p>Hermione poked nervously at her eggs with her fork until she finally snagged the yolk and it leaked over the edge of her plate and into Ron's elbow.<p>

"Bugger Hermione! You got it all over me!" he cried.

She pointed her wand at his sleeve lazily and said, "Scourgify. There, all better now Cranky?"

"Much. 'Fanks' 'Mione'" he replied, as he stuffed his mouth full of food.

"Hermione, why aren't you eating anything? You haven't touched your breakfast except to spill it on Ron, and you've barely said a word to any of us." Harry looked at her questioningly.

"Its nothing", she replied. "I'm just anxious for the letters to get here. I'm really worried about my internship, the Professors all thought I should have no problem getting it, but it _is_ the most notoriously difficult internship to get. And I heard that there was a lot of competition this year." She frowned and resumed poking at her eggs.

Ron answered, "Aw c'mon 'Mione. The only person in this school who's gonna get that St. Mungo's internship is you. You're the best!" And Harry added, "yea, Ron's right, who else could they possibly choose over you? You're loads smarter than any of the 6th or 7th years."

Right at that moment, the owls began to pour into the Great Hall, flying low and perilously over the tables. Letters rained down into the hands of excited students eager to discover where they had been placed for summer wizarding internships. They had sent in their applications months ago to all of their top choices, and were informed only yesterday that the decision letters would be arriving this morning during breakfast. The Hall hadn't been so crowded since the Yule Ball during 4th year.

Most students had applied to internships that promised to be fun or exciting, or they sent in applications with the intention of getting matched up with friends. Popular options included a group internship in "Magical Forestry", which basically became a summer-long camping trip with friends, "Wizarding Around the World", which involved observing and experiencing different wizarding cultures internationally, and "Gringotts Vault Keeping", which was considered easy, because the goblins permitted students to do very little, maximizing one's free time. The more morbidly fascinated students could apply for the "Azkaban Prison Guard" internship, which was also quite popular, but students that did that internship never returned quite the same after a summers' exposure to the Dementors. Ron and Harry had both applied for "Dragon Training" in Romania, with Ron's brother Charlie. They were counting on having the adventure of a lifetime this summer, despite Mrs. Weasley's protests that they were "much too young to go about working with dangerous animals!" As predicted, instead of choosing something fun or exciting, Hermione went the academic route. She chose the internship in "Intro to Magical Maladies, St. Mungo's". It was intended for young witches or wizards who wanted to pursue a career as a Healer. It was a brutal internship; the hours were grueling, the work demanding, and the competition was cutthroat. Only one student was chosen from each of the wizarding schools, and the three students selected spent the entire summer aggressively trying to outdo each other. But the payoffs were huge; students who successfully completed the internship would be granted full acceptance to St. Mungo's Academy of Healing after graduation, no applications or interviews necessary. Hermione wanted this for herself more than anything in the world. She wanted it so badly in fact, that she devoted all of her time to making her application perfect and completely forgot to apply for back-ups. At the last minute she submitted an application to "The Joy of Editing the Quibbler". She figured if she couldn't get the coveted St. Mungo's internship, she might as well find some amusement this summer listening to Luna Lovegood's father ramble on and on about Crumple-horned Snorkacks and Gnargles and other completely bogus and outrageously fantastic beasts.

"Look out 'Mione, he's comin' right for ya!" Ron shouted, and Hermione glanced up just as an old, ratty, school owl nearly crashed, talons-first, into her head. The owl pulled up just in time and neatly deposited a crisp, white envelope into her waiting hands. Without hesitating, she began to shred the package, not caring about the ripped paper debris she was showering her eggs with. She had her letter open in record time and began to read impatiently.

"Harry! We got it! We're going to spend the summer with Charlie training dragons!" Ron hollered animatedly to Harry. "Your brother came through! I always knew I liked Charlie!" Harry replied. One table down, Fred and George began whooping excitedly to each other and then directed their excitement back up to Harry and Ron, "Oy' you gits! Its gonna be a boys' summer! Charlie got us in too!" Harry smiled happily; this was going to be a summer he'd never forget. He was going to spend it with three of best blokes he knew, there would be no cupboard under the stairs for him this time, no 'Ickle Duddykins' to ruin his fun, no horrible Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia to tell him what to do. Life was good.

Meanwhile, Hermione reread her letter frantically. "How could this be?" she thought, desperately trying to understand. She read it again. It began:

"Dear Miss Granger,

We are pleased to offer you a position in "Magical Maladies; St. Mungo's" internship program. This year's applicant pool was particularly strong, and our deliberations were quite difficult. We were very impressed with your achievements and future potential, and our Healers are looking forward to working with you…"

It all made sense up to this point, but then it became confusing:

"…Please be advised: due to the fierce competitiveness of the applications, the staff was unable to come to an agreement on a single candidate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and therefore, two students have been selected…"

This had never been done before. Hermione couldn't believe it, she got her coveted internship and now she would have to share it! But that wasn't the worst of it. Hermione stared in shock and disbelief at the name of the other student in her letter. She shook her head violently as if to erase the words from her memory, and proceeded to fold her letter determinedly, and placed it down next to her plate, the side that wasn't oozing with egg yokes. She began to stand up from the table and pack her things when Harry noticed her crestfallen expression. He paused in the midst of his cheering and gloating and asked her apprehensively, "Hermione? How did it go? Did you get it?" He and Ron grew silent and looked at Hermione soberly.

"Yes, I got it." She answered.

"That's fantastic!" Ron shouted, nearly bowling her over with a bear hug. "Well what's the matter then? You look miserable!"

She gingerly unfolded the letter again, scanning once more to reconfirm her nightmare.

"It _is_ fantastic. Except, this year they took two students from Hogwarts, not one. They said they couldn't choose between us." She remarked bitterly.

"Well, who's the other person?" Harry asked.

Hermione began to read the final portion of the letter out loud to the boys:

"…We expect you to view the other student from Hogwarts not as your ally, but as your direct competition. ("No problem there!" she thought) However, we are certain that since you both share pride for your school and your educations, you will be able to collaborate as a team when assigned. ("Fat chance!" she whined in her head). The name of your fellow Hogwarts intern is…"

"Well, go on then! Who is it?" Ron questioned. She hesitated before biting out the last words, pausing to swallow thickly:

"…Draco Malfoy."

It was going to be a long summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, here's my first update. Sorry it took so long, I will try to update more frequently in the future. If you're still reading, thank you! And please review.

*NOTE: I do not own anything; I owe everything to the fabulous J.K. Rowling.

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><p><em>End of chapter 1:<em>

Hermione began to read the final portion of the letter out loud to the boys:

"…We expect you to view the other student from Hogwarts not as your ally, but as your direct competition. ("No problem there!" she thought) However, we are certain that since you both share pride for your school and your educations, you will be able to collaborate as a team when assigned. ("Fat chance!" she whined in her head). The name of your fellow Hogwarts intern is…"

"Well, go on then! Who is it?" Ron questioned. She hesitated before biting out the last words, pausing to swallow thickly:

"…Draco Malfoy."

It was going to be a long summer.

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><p>Draco folded up his letter and glanced across the Great Hall towards the table where Hermione sat gathering up her things hastily, looking rather flustered. The Weasel was making large motions in the air with his arms and, from what Draco could see, turning purple with fury. Potty looked more composed, but no more enthusiastic than Ron. Hermione stood up and turned to make a quick exit, but not before sending a fleeting look in Draco's direction. He smirked callously as their eyes met, and she flung him a nasty glare before passing through the heavy doors and out of the Hall. Draco didn't bother to look back at the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio; no doubt he could guess their reaction. Instead he chuckled to himself, rather pleased, and returned to his unfinished pumpkin juice. "This is going to be a long summer", he thought to himself.<p>

He had been as surprised as Hermione to find that Saint Mungo's had selected two students from Hogwarts. He knew she had applied several months ago, and that based on school marks and recommendations, she would probably beat him yet again. Not that his marks weren't good. In fact he was second to her in every subject, all except potions of course. And his recommendations had been carefully selected; Professor Snape had written him a very respectable letter, and Professor Sinestra had always seemed to like Draco despite his reputation and he had done rather well in her advanced Arithmancy seminar, so he got a letter from her as well. But Hermione was much more well-liked, and her obnoxious goody two-shoes personality always seemed to seep through into everything she did. While Draco's personal statement had been pithy, factual and probably read more like a demand that he be given the internship, he was sure Hermione's had been flowery, dripping with her desire to "help people" and over-achieve, and earnestly asking for an "opportunity to learn and put her knowledge to use". He couldn't understand why that kind of writing always seemed to impress people; he thought it a far greater skill to be able to be concise and say exactly what you mean. So in order to swing the votes in his favor he had his father pull a couple of strings for him.

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><p><em>Several months earlier…<em>

Lucius was a bit taken aback by Draco's interest in an internship in Healing. Draco mentioned it over dinner one evening quite out of the blue. Lucius paused with a bite of pheasant smothered in cranberry sauté halfway between his plate and mouth to comment. "Surely you mean to internship in St. Mungo's administration and business division?" he had asked. That was something he could understand. The Malfoy's _owned_ hospitals, they didn't _work_ in them.

"Actually father, I'm not interested in the administrative careers at St. Mungo's. I would like to try the Healer internship." He tried to sound nonchalant, but he was really quite anxious that his father would forbid him from doing the internship at all. He was certain he would end up spending his summer at Malfoy Industries, as he had every summer since his first year at Hogwarts, fetching his father coffee and struggling to stay awake in boring business meetings that made him want to tear the hairs from his platinum head one by one. After graduation he would have to step into the role of a Vice President under his father, a job that was predestined for him at birth, but until then he wanted to try and experience the things he could never have. And being a Healer was something that Draco admired, much to the astonishment of many of his professors and friends. He had always respected Madame Pomfrey who had fixed him up more times than he could remember after some of the more violent quidditch games he played in. And he was good at potions, which was an important part of treatment of magical maladies. If he was the son of another wizard perhaps he would have a bright future as a Healer, maybe become a world-renowned Squib researcher, or maybe a famous Curse-Reverser…

Draco was brought out of his musings by his father clearing his throat. Lucius had been studying Draco curiously for the last few minutes. Draco's face was impassive and aloof. He knew Lucius couldn't tell what was going through his son's head, but he supposed that meant he had taught him well in the ways of being a Malfoy. One must shield his natural reactions and emotions at all times; a Malfoy never reveals his inner thoughts.

Lucius cleared his throat again and replied, "Well I suppose that can be arranged. May I ask why you need me my assistance? Certainly your marks are excellent." He resumed delicately eating his pheasant.

"Well as it turns out, this internship is the most competitive. They only select one student from each school. And that smarty-pants mudblood Hermione Granger has her sights set on it." And then so that his father wouldn't think he was worried that a mudblood might beat him, he added, "not that I think she's any competition at all really, I just want to make sure I won't have any trouble securing my place." He smirked and straightened up smugly, like a proper Malfoy heir.

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><p>As anticipated, Lucius' connections were exceedingly helpful in swaying the St. Mungo's internship committee. When the letters arrived Draco read his privately, careful not to give away it's contents by his facial expression. Not that anyone would have noticed. Crabbe and Goyle were busy fist pumping and making ear splitting, animalistic whoops of joy for having been accepted to the glorified camping trip internship, and Pansy was gushing, all false modesty, to the rest of the table about how she never thought she would get the internship in Madame Bijoux's House of Magical Fashion, "considering", she said, "that her looks were perhaps too classically beautiful and refined for a position at the Mecca of modern fashion". Classically beautiful is not how Draco would have described "Pugface"- yes, he knew what those outside of Slytherin had nicknamed her, and frankly he thought it very fitting. She looked rather more like a miniature mountain troll and he had a hard time imagining anyone finding her beautiful. But his opinion was somewhat tainted by the fact that Pansy was always hanging off of him and trying to impress him; she wasn't subtle about her feelings for him and it disgusted him. Draco sat, quietly observing his friends. When everyone calmed down they all finally looked to him, curious to know if he got the coveted St. Mungo's internship. They all knew that the Gryffindor Princess had also applied, and they were certain that their Slytherin Prince would beat her. But Draco's face remained expressionless as he waited to have all eyes on him.<p>

"Well Draco, darling sweetness, did you get it?" Pansy cooed sickeningly as she sidled up next to him.

Draco checked to make sure he had everyone's full attention then allowed himself to slip into his trademarked smirk, his mouth tugging upward at one corner, the eyebrow above it arcing into his brow, his features settling into a practiced imperiousness. "Of course I did," he answered her arrogantly. The table broke into loud applause and cheering, and several of the other boys came to slap him on the back. He was now King of Slytherin for the moment, and he figured telling them that Granger had also gotten the internship could wait.

He hadn't expected he would get the internship only to have to share it with someone else, the mudblood no less. But as much as she irritated him like a stone in his shoes, she was an easy target for Draco. She reacted explosively to his insults and taunts, much to his and the other Slytherins' amusement. She was his opposite in every way. Where he was controlled, calculating, and cruel, she was emotional, reactionary, and far too nice. In fact, her over-developed sense of kindness was what irked Draco the most. She treated everyone with the same syrupy sweet attitude, always willing to help out a struggling classmate or encourage a downtrodden friend. "She cares too damn much about people", thought Draco, while also registering that he was the only person she didn't seem to reserve her insufferable brand of benevolence for. She had once even helped Pansy when she was failing Ancient Runes, of course Draco was sworn to secrecy and it was a guarantee Pansy would slaughter him if anyone ever found out. And according to Pansy, Hermione was rather nice to her despite the fact that Pansy had treated her horribly for years. Draco had hoped that maybe Hermione was secretly getting her revenge on Pansy by giving her all the wrong answers to the homework and making up absurd translations that Pansy would then repeat in the classroom and look like a buffoon. But Pansy's marks had improved dramatically, and Draco confirmed what he always knew; that Hermione was way too nice. Nice to the point of idiocy. And she was far too trusting as well. And that can get a person into quite a bit of trouble.

Not that Granger wasn't quick-witted and sharp-tongued when she wanted to be. She often had very clever, and sometimes downright nasty comebacks for Draco's slurs. On occasion they would get into epic verbal battles before class began and the teacher had not yet arrived, battles that would heat up very quickly and were watched by their classmates who were fervently keeping score. She was the only person he knew that could match him insult for insult, and as hard as he tried he could never make her cry. Some of things he said were so horridly personal they could possibly have made his sadistic Aunt Bellatrix cry, but not Granger. She clung fiercely to her pride and would never give Draco the pleasure of taking it from her. "There's always a first for everything", he thought, as he considered having to spend everyday of the summer working closely with Granger. Maybe once he had her a bit isolated from her friends he could break her, maybe the pressure of the internship would wear her down, maybe… and then suddenly Draco had a wonderful, and awful idea. He latched onto an image of a trusting Hermione, a Hermione that was willing to let down her guard so that they could work together and both get through what was going to be a very difficult internship. Draco began to hatch a plan to exploit that little fault of Hermione's this summer. He was going to enjoy his summer for once, and he knew just what would make him happiest. _He would befriend Hermione Granger_.


End file.
